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Bali cancellations confuse vacationers

Saturday's bombings in Bali that killed 22 people and wounded 90 others have created problems for people who have booked trips to the Indonesian resort island.

Since the Taiwan Tourism Bureau has not issued a travel warning or any other comment on the Bali blasts, travel agencies don't have any government guidance on how to respond to people wanting to cancel their Bali trips.

Some travel agents reported the cancellation of up to 30 percent of group tours as of yesterday morning.

Consumers' Foundation chairman Jason Lee (李鳳翱) said the failure of the government to make any official announcement about travel to Bali means that no standard has been established for providing refunds for trip cancellations.

This has allowed some travel agencies to consider the cancellations as being based on "personal reasons."

According to Article 27 of the standard contract for package tours, an agency can keep up to 30 percent of the total price as a cancellation fee. Article 28-1 of the standard contract states that people canceling their tours based on security warnings are liable to just a 5 percent cancellation fee.

Lee said that while many places in Bali may still be safe, many others are not.

He said the foundation feels that Article 27 should not be applied in the current situation, and urged people having difficulties getting refunds from their travel agent to contact the foundation for assistance.
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